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President Volodymyr Zelensky convened a meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief where officials adopted additional decisions to protect data centres and other critical facilities in the communications sector according to the Ukrainian News Agency UNN. Zelensky stated that the measures aim to ensure uninterrupted operation of the infrastructure and must be implemented at all levels with personal responsibility placed on government officials and heads of special services. The president added that the staff reviewed tests of interceptors against Russian jet-powered Shahed drones identified means to strengthen air defences and decided to accelerate production of interceptors as well as various types of jet engines in Ukraine.
The decisions follow a series of Russian drone strikes this week on Kyiv data centres that Ukrainian officials linked to widespread connectivity problems. A Russian drone hit a business centre in the capital on Friday killing four people and damaging a data centre housed there according to Ukrainian emergency services cited by multiple outlets including the BBC. Kyiv city officials attributed the resulting internet outages directly to the attack on data centre infrastructure while repair teams worked to restore services.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation reported that around 100000 households in Kyiv and the surrounding region experienced internet disruptions after the September 23 strike a figure corroborated by Reuters and The Record from Recorded Future News. Internet monitoring group NetBlocks confirmed partial connectivity losses for at least four providers including Kyiv Link Pautina UTELS and Crazy Network following the initial attack. Hosting company MiroHost told the Kyiv Independent that its Ukrainian data centre was destroyed though 90 to 95 percent of its customers relied on infrastructure located outside the country and remained unaffected while UTELS reported a complete loss of power at one facility that housed core network equipment.
Zelensky said Russia had widened its attacks to target data centres internet providers and businesses with the aim of disrupting ordinary civilian life according to his public address covered by the BBC. “All this affects people’s ability to stay connected study work” he said in comments that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha echoed in remarks to Reuters by stressing that such infrastructure delivers life-saving air raid alerts. Sybiha added that the strikes on major data centres sought to interrupt the flow of information and endangered lives by impairing timely warnings about incoming missiles and drones.
Russia’s Defence Ministry stated that its forces struck several data processing and telecommunications centres over recent days including New-Telco United DC Kyivstar Parkovyi and the Datagroup facility in Kyiv. The ministry claimed the sites supported Ukrainian military intelligence and security agencies as well as logistics operations though Ukrainian authorities have not confirmed any military role for the facilities. The Russian statement also noted parallel strikes on warehouse and logistics sites in Odesa that it described as benefiting the Ukrainian military.
The incidents mark an escalation in Russian targeting of digital infrastructure that comes amid intensified strikes on energy and railway networks as winter approaches according to assessments in the Kyiv Independent. DiXi Group an energy research organisation reported that Russian forces have carried out at least 64 massive attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure since February 2022 deploying roughly 2900 missiles and 12700 strike drones with the scale and intensity rising sharply in 2025 and early 2026. The group estimated that around two-thirds of Ukraine’s pre-war generating capacity has been occupied damaged or destroyed as a result of the systematic campaign.
Despite the outages expert Serhii Beskrestnov told the BBC that Ukraine’s internet architecture remains highly decentralised making a total cutoff unlikely even after multiple data centre strikes. Several affected companies have already shifted data to backup sites abroad or relocated core network functions to maintain partial operations. Zelensky’s administration has directed all relevant agencies to prioritise implementation of the new protective measures to safeguard both public connectivity and emergency alert systems.
